that any one should reprehend me At 1. Our most clement Redeemer Jesus Christ who is Goodness and Justice it self and the Soveraign Judge of all is rudely led from Annas to Caiphas a most wicked and most unjust Judge But I cannot endure with patience to be judged or condemned of my superiours of my equals of my inferiours be it right or wrong At 2. Our most wise Redeemer Jesus Christ did confess in the presence of the high Priest that he was the Son of God although he received a blow from the hand of a bloody butcher Let us never leave to do good or to serve God for the hate of men At 3. Our most amiable Redeemer Jesus Christ is denied by Saint Peter but when our Blessed Saviour beheld him he presently repented and bitterly deplored his sin O Lord God what man can presume that he will not offend thee let us bewail our sins with Saint Peter At 4. Our most meek Redeemer Jesus Christ is blind-folded spitted on beaten mocked blasphemed as a false Prophet Consider my soul that thou hast spitten upon the face of Jesus Christ that thou hast mocked and blasphemed him when thou hast done it to any one of thy neighbours who are his Brethren At 5. Our most Innocent Redeemer Jesus Christ the Holy of Holies in a full Assembly and Counsel of the Jews is condemned to death through envy O how this Passion of envy doth make us often-times to judg evil of others better than our selves At 6. Our most Gracious Redeemer Jesus Christ is presented to Pilate and falsly accused but not answering a word he is found Innocent O what silence of my Saviour so grievously accused and I sinner that I am do nothing but make excuses At 7. Our most Prudent Redeemer Jesus Christ is sent from Pilate to Herod and being demanded of vain things held his peace whereby he was mocked esteemed as a fool and as such is cloathed in a white garment O how much ought we rather desire to be contemned of men and not to condesend to their evil will than to displease God! At 8. Our most Just Redeemer Jesus Christ is sent from Herod to Pilate and Barrabas the murderer is preferred before him And thou sinner dost thou not do the same dost thou not prefer the Devil before God when thou inclinest to vice and forsakest vertue At 9. Our most Dolorous Redeemer Jesus Christ is most rudely despoyled and bound all naked to a pillar most cruelly whipped all torn with stripes and bruised with blows Behold O my soul how they handle the Virginal flesh of thy Saviour and how thou dost flatter and pamper thine which hath so much offended At 10. Our most Patient Redeemer Jesus Christ revested with purple crowned with thorns having a reed for a scepter is shewn to thee for a pattern of patience and all vertue if thou wilt be glorified by him O how much ought I to be ashamed to be so delicate a member under a head crowned with thorns for me At 11. Our most constant Redeemer Jesus Christ condemned to death by Pilate carrieth his own Cross to Mount Calvary Whosoever will follow him to Paradise he must carry the Crosse which are the afflictions of this life after him with patience At 12. Our most obedient Redeemer Jesus Christ is stretched out nailed and elevated upon the Cross between two theeves for the salvation of the world Since our sinnes have been so punished in the person of our Redeemer How shall they be punished in sinners if they do not amend At 1. Our most merciful Redeemer Jesus Christ did pray for those that crucified him and promised Paradise to the good Thief Let us also pardon those that offend against us if we will that God should pardon us At 2. Our most Devout Redeemer Jesus Christ did give Saint John to his Mother for her Son and his Mother to Saint John for a Mother O what affection did Saint John bear to the Mother of God O that my soul might burn with the like devotion to the blessed Virgin At 3. Our most Perfect Redeemer Jesus Christ did cry out My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me I thirst All is consummated and recommending his Spirit to God the Father he expired Let the earth tremble the dead arise the Sun be darkened day become night since the Creator and Saviour of the world is dead but thou O my soul awake from sin At 4. Our most victorious Redeemer Jesus Christ being dead his Soul descended to Limbo for to deliver the elect in the mean time his body transpierced with a lance doth shed forth blood and water Enter O my Soul within the side of Jesus Christ by a great considence in his mercy give heart for heart love for love to him that hath done and given all for thee At 5. The precious body of our Redeemer Jesus Christ being taken down from the Cross is put into the arms of the Virgin his Mother and afterward is most honourably buried Receive my Soul receive him in thy memory and retain this sacred Passion of Jesus Christ in all thy thoughts words and works living in such sort that thou mayest be worthy of the name of a Christian redeemed by the precious blood of the Son of God The Soul of Christ sanctifie me the body of Christ save me the precious blood of Jesus Christ inebriate me the water of the side of Jesus Christ wash me the Passion of Jesus Christ comfort me O good Jesus hear me hide me in thy holy wounds suffer me not to be separated from thee defend me from the malign enemy call me at the hour of my death and command me to come to thee for to praise bless and glorifie thee eternally with thy Saints Amen The Obligations and Rules of this Confraternity 1. ALL those that are to be admitted into this Confraternity are to be of that age that they may confess and communicate which is gathered by the express words of the Bull in that it ordains that at their entrance they are to confess and communicate 2. They shall endeavour daily morning and evening to make examine of their conscience and to say some prayers according to each ones devotion but principally for the gaining of the Indulgences five Paters and Aves adding to the end of each one the Gloria Patri c. saluring devoutly the five Wounds of our Saviour whereto they must join one Pater Ave for the Popes Holiness which after the example of the Frier-Minors if they be not hindred by Infirmity or otherwise they may say with their armes stretched out in manner of a Cross according as hereafter shall be declared 3. The end of this Confraternity is vertue Christian piety and imitation of our Saviour in his Passion and therefore the Brethren and Sisters thereof ought diligently to observe the Commandements of God and his Church and above all things not to give any scandal but good example in all
nos inducas in tentationem Sed libera nos a malo Oremus DOmine Jesu Christe qui pro salute humani generis quinque vulnera pati voluisti tribue qua sumus ut ob reverentiam illorum vulnerum tuoorum absolvi mereamur ab omnibus peccatis nostris da praesentem vitam bono fine terminari a tuae dulcissimae visionis contemplatione nunquam sepaparari Oremus DEus qui manus tuas pedes tuos totum corpus tuum pro nobis peccatoribus in ligno crucis posuisti coronam spineam a Judaeis in despectum tui sacratissimi nominis super caput tuum impositam sustinuisti quinque vulnera pro nobis peccatoribus in ligno crucis passus fuisti da nobis hodie quotidie usum poenitentiae abstinentiae patientiae humilitatis castitatis lumen sensum intellectum puram conscientiam usque in finem Per te Jesu Christe Salvator mundi Qui cum Patre Spiritu sancto vivis regnas Deus Per omnia saecula saeculorum Amen We have here added the Profession of our Faith which is often to be read to confirm our selves in the belief of the holy Church to exercise and increase our Faith and obtain the effect of our Prayers the impetration thereof being attributed to Faith A PROFESSION OF THE Catholick Faith Set out according to the Decrees of the holy Council of Trent IAB Do with a stead fast Faith Believe and Profess all and every Point contained in the Symbol of the Faith that the holy Roman Church doth use to wit I do believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth of all things both visible and invisible And in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God and born of the Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light true God of true God begotten and not made of the same substance with the Father by whom all things were made who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven and was Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man was crucisied also for us under Pontius Pilate suffered and was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and ascended up to Heaven sitteth at the right hand of the Father and he shall come again with Glory to judge the quick and the dead of whose Kingdom there shall be no end And in the Holy Ghost our Lord and giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is adored and conglorified who spake by the Prophets And in one holy Catholick and Apostolick Church I profess one Baptism for the remission of sins And I expect the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come Amen I do steadfastly admit and embrace the Traditions of the Apostles and of the Church and all other Observations and Constitutions of the same Church I do also admit the holy Scriptures according to that sense which our holy Mother the Catholick Church hath held and doth hold to whom it appertaineth to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy Scriptures neither will I ever understand nor interpret the same otherwise then according to the uniform consent of the Fathers I do also profess that there be truly and properly seven Sacraments of the new Law instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord and necessary for the salvation of mankind although all be not necessary for every one to wit Baptism Confirmation Extream Vnction Order and Matrimony and these Sacraments do give Grace and that of them Baptism Confirmation and Order cannot be reiterated without Sacriledge I do also receive and admit all the received and approved Ceremonies of the Catholick Church in the solemn administration of all the aforesaid Sacraments I do receive and embrace all and every of the things which in the holy Council of Trent have been defined and declared touching Original sin and Justification I do profess also that in the Mass is offered up to God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and dead and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar there is truly really and substantially the body and blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ And that there is made a Conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood which Conversion the holy Church calls Transubstantiation I do also confess that under either form only is received Christ whole and entire and the true Sacrament I do constantly hold that there is Purgatory and that the Souls which be there detained are holpen by Prayers of the Faithful Also that the Saints who raign together with Christ are to be honored and called upon and that they offer up prayers to God for us and that their Reliques are to be reverenced and honoured I do most steadfastly affirm that the Images of Christ of the Mother of God always Virgin and of all Saints are to be had and retained and that due honor and reverence is to be given them I affirm that the authority of Indulgences was left by Christ in the Church and that the use of them is very behoofeful for Christian People I do acknowledge the holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistriss of all Churches And I do promise and swear true obedience to the Bishop of Rome who is the Successor of St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ And all other things also defined and declared by the holy Canons and Oecumenical Councils and chiefly by the holy Council of Trent I do undoubtedly receive and profess And also all contrary things and whatsoever Heresies condemned and accursed by the Church I likewise do condemn reject and accurse This true Catholick Faith without which no man can be saved now I willingly and truly hold the same A. B. do promise and swear to hold and confess most constantly by God his help entire and uncorrupted even to the last end of my life So God help me and the holy Gospels of God Amen Anglia chara Deo Felix Sancta fuisti Sis modo qualis eras sic pia vota petunt FINIS
honour of the Passion of Jesus Christ who is the Holy of Holies and whose Merits are Infinite Whereby the Prophesie of King David is verified for speaking in the person of Christ he saith That the Cords and Bands of his Death and Passion are finally to become glorious Psal 15. Cords are fallen to me in godly places Sith so many Kings and Queens Princes and Princesses Lords and Ladies do wear these little Cords in memory of the Band wherewith Christ was bound in the time his Passion So then the Cord being worn in remembrance of the Passion which is the cause of our Redemption Graces Merits and Spiritual Good let us see here How we ought to have the Passion of our Saviour alwayes in our memory THE Seraphical Father St. Francis a little after his conversion weeping and lamenting very bitterly said to a Gentleman that desired to know the reason thereof Jesus Christ is crucified for us and no man thinketh of it no man is mindful of it Non proposuerunt Deum ante conspectum suum No man setteth Christ Jesus in his Passion before their eyes Dion Carth. maketh the like complaint saying Our Lord hath ministred unto us copious matter of consideration of his love yet alas it doth not touch our hearts so that it seemes that we are more senseless than insensible creatures and more obdurate than hard stones For when he suffered death on the Cross the Earth did quake Darkness ascended Rocks were rent Monuments opened and the Dead arose as it were suffering with him and detesting the cruel injuries done unto him But we alas do little compassionate him O great perversity He hath suffered grievous things for us and scarce any affection of compassion toucheth our hearts If we were his members and he our head we could not but grieve at his paines If there were any bowels of pitty in us and we should see a brute beast to suffer such things we should naturally be moved to condole him And it doth not move us when we see our Lord and Master of his exceeding charity to suffer so grievous paines for us Quid commisisti saith St. Augustine ut sie judicareris O blessed Saviour what crime hast thou committed to be thus judged What sin hast thou perpetrated What offence hast thou given What is the cause of thy death What is the occasion of thy slaughter O! saith he the wicked sinneth and the just is punished the guilty offendeth and the innocent is chastised the impious committeth the offence and the godly is condemned what the wicked deserveth the good suffereth what the servant oweth the master payeth what man meriteth God endureth O amiable death O desirable passion O admirable profundity The least that we can do is to have a continual memory of so great a benefit of so great charity and as the same holy Father saith Sit nobis toto fixus in corde qui pro nobis fuit totus fixus in cruce Let him be wholly fixed and placed in our hearts who was wholly fixed and fastened on the Cross for us and the Spouse in the Canticles saith Chap. 8. Put me as a seal upon thy heart as a seal upon thy arm Let thy heart be alwayes occupied in the cogitation and memory of my Passion and let thy strength vertue and force be sustained by the vertue of my sufferings I do alwayes conserve the wounds of my body that thou mightest keep the memory of my Passion alwayes in thy mind and soul the holy Ghost by the mouth of the Wiseman doth also invite us thereto Eccl. 29. Forget not the kindness of a surety for he hath given his life for thee Let us as St. Bernardine saith by mental consideration gather together in a bundle all his derisions flagellations thorns nails dolours pains exprobrations mockings buffets blowes spittings confusions and such like to contemplate devoutly behold mentally and tast sweetly that we may say with the Spouse in the Canticles Chap. 1. A bundle of myrrh my beloved in his Passion is to me he shall abide between my breasts that is between our understanding contemplating his passion and our will or affection tasting it How pleasing this bundle was to the holy Father St. Francis is manifest in that having had an apparition of our Saviour Crucified his Soul was so penetrated by the force thereof that thenceforth whensoever it came to his mind he could scarce containe himself from tears and sighs And S. Bonaventure saith of him that Christ crucified did continually abide between the breasts of his mind as a bundle of myrrh into whom by the fire of excessive love he desired to be transformed And in another place he saith That by a sevenfold apparition of our Saviour on the Cross he was wholly transformed into the Image of Christ crucified by extatical love and in the 13. Chapter of his life he in a manner assigneth the reason of that miracle which Cardinal Bellarmine calleth the greatest and most singular miracle of all others and as it were a wonder of wonders of his sacred stigmats to have been the continual meditation of Christs Passion Conformably thereunto St. Bernardine saith He was transformed with so great love and fervent ardour into Jesus Christ crucified that by a miracle never heard of in any ages the benignity of our Saviour hath impressed in his flesh the similitude of his most holy Passion ordaining him his Standard-bearer in a new rememoration of his Crucifying And therefore Saint Antonine the glory of St. Dominicks Order and Arch-bishop of Florence said That because the memory of Christs Passion seemed to be extinguished in the minds of men through coldness and tepidity therefore our Lord would exsuscitate and renew the memory thereof by the manifest impression of his wounds or stigmats in the body of Saint Francis whereby the Clemency of Almighty God condescending to his lovers beyond all estimation hath given him the banner of the Crosse to be carried in his body that he who was prevented by a wonderful love of the Cross might also become marvellous by the wonderful honour of the Cross How profitable a thing is it to have always the Passion of our Saviour in our Minds THe Devout servant of Christ Saint Francis col 23. of his works saith I desire you that you have always before your eyes our Lords Passion which will roborate you and animate you to suffer more valiantly for him And the Prince of the Apostles offereth us no other coat of fence no other Armour against all incursions and wounds but this saying 1 Pet. 4. Christ having suffered in the flesh be you also armed with the same cogitations As if he should say Christ hath suffered so great things for you excogitate and consider what ye ought to do and suffer for him rather for your selves to flie vice and follow vertue which he hath commended unto us by his Passion Saint Paul teacheth us the same saying Think diligently seriously consider and ponder him
which sustained such contradiction such and so great opprobries mockings contumelies blows stripes torments and death of sinners and for sinners who did not only contradict him in words but with deeds and stripes That you be not wearied or loose your force fainting in your minds Heb. 12. Let us therefore arm our selves with the memory of this sacred Passion because nothing is troublesome nothing seemeth hard nothing is accounted adverse to him that remembreth how and what Christ suffered for him There is no shield more efficacious to resist temptations of the Devil the Flesh and the World than the cogitation of Christ crucified And therefore holy Saint Bernard said well That such is the vertue and force of the Cross of Christ that if it be conserved faithfully in memory no disordinate desires no carnal delight no desire of sin can prevail but forthwith at the remembrance thereof all the squadrons of sin will vanish And in another place he saith There is nothing so efficacious to heal the wounds of our conscience and to purge our souls as the frequent meditation of the wounds of Christ St. Augustin knew it by experience saying of himself In omnibus non inveni tam efficax remedium quam vulnera Christi Manual c. 32. I have not found in all things so efficacious a remedy as Christs Wounds And in another place he saith Nihil tam salutiferum nobis est quam quotidie cogitare quanta pro nobis pertulit Deus There is nothing that conduceth more to our salvation than daily to think what great things Christ hath suffered for us Because the Sufferings or Passion of our Saviour well considered doth reform all inordinate affections extinguish all flames of vice and conserve the fire of Devotion in our breasts Nothing more forceable to obtain Mercy than the memory of that which is the Abysse of Mercy so that Albertus Magnus had good reason to say That there was nothing more satisfactory for our sins and to avoid Purgatory than it Yea our Saviour revealed to St. Gertrude that next to the Masse and Communion there was nothing more Meritorious than this exercise And S. Catherine of Bolognia saith That by it we may gain victory in every Combat and without it we shall easily be vanquished it is the cure of all wounds most comfortable refuge in all adversity it is food that sustaineth and fortifieth the weak spirits it is most sweet Manna a ladder that elevateth our hearts to heaven the harbour of our souls a fountain never dry a most plentiful sea and most secure passage Saint Lydwine having been sick for the space of eight and thirty years had no other consolation than the meditation of Christs Passion for it giveth great force against all afflictions and maketh us to fight for as to incite the Elephants to the battail men shew them blood even so by the representation and memory of the blood of Christ shed for us on the Cross we take courage to fight against the world to vanquish our appetites and desires to forsake all vain honours riches and pleasures this is the armour that Saint Paul St. Augustine St. Francis and many other Saints have used against all temptations this is a present remedy for all tribulations and afflictions It is impossible to relate the great good that our souls may reap by this exercise for as St. Bonaventure saith we cannot offer to God a more acceptable sacrifice for the dead nor bring greater joy to the Angels nor give a more excellent sign of recognisance to the holy Trinity than to employ our selves ordinarily in it And in another place he saith That he that doth exercise himself attentively and devoutly in it findeth there abundantly all things that are profitable and necessary for him and needeth not to seek any thing out of Jesus crucified and amongst all other exercises of a spiritual life none more profitable none that carrieth the soul to a higher degree of perfection than the meditation of the life and death of our Redeemer which Christ himself hath revealed to a holy Hermite who earnestly desired Almighty God to shew him what service would be most grateful to his Divine Majesty at length he saw one naked shaking with cold bearing a great Cross of whom he asked what he was who replied I am Jesus Christ thou hast often demanded to know what service is most pleasing unto me assure thy self that to help me to bear my Crosse Wounds and Passion in thy heart is most pleasing and grateful unto me The several Hours of the Passion of our Saviour Whereby the Soul may be alwayes mindful of her Redemption AT 6. a clock in the Evening Our most humble Redeemer Jesus Christ true God and Man on his knees did wash the Feet of his Disciples And shall not I cast away all pride and imitate the humility of my God willingly exercising all offices how base and humble soever for the profit of my neighbour At 7. Our most charitable Redeemer Jesus Christ by an ineffable love towards men gave them his body and his blood for the nurture of their souls ordaining the blessed Sacrament of the Altar What love shall I render to my Saviour for so great love what desire what reverence what affection ought I to have towards this venerable Sacrament At 8. Our most amiable Redeemer Jesus Christ gave his last adieu to his faithful recommending unto them mutual Charity demanding it of God his Father O my Soul by charity to one another we are known whether we be true children of God At 9. Our most pious Redeemer Jesus Christ coming to the Garden of Olivet surprised with a natural sadness of death had recourse to prayer three times and resigned his will to God his Father and did cast a bloody sweat from all his body let us presently run to God by prayer when we are in any affliction or danger let us never stay in the creatures but cast our selves into the hands of our Creator At 10. Our most couragious Redeemer Jesus Christ goeth to meet his enemies voluntarily offering himself to death and refuseth not to kiss the Traytor Judas And shall I O my God dare to betray thee by my sinne for some base creature or vain pleasure it were better for me to embrace all the torments of this life yea to die and so to suffer with my Saviour At 11. Our most milde Redeemer Jesus Christ did suffer himself to be taken by the wicked and to be bound with rough Cords and to be treated as a malefactor and thief and I who by my sins am the cause of all this will not suffer any thing from my neighbor without seeking revenge At 12. Our most sweet Redeemer Jesus Christ Lamb of God is outragiously treated before Annas the high Priest and he who is innocency it self is falsly accused before him yet I who am repleat with imperfections and offences towards God and my neighbour cannot endure that any should accuse me or